The EuroPython 2015 Keynotes

[beliavsky at aol.com]

On Friday, July 10, 2015 at 2:58:18 PM UTC-4, Chris Angelico wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 10, 2015 at 10:01 PM, beliavsky--- via Python-list
> <python-list at python.org> wrote:
> > On Friday, July 10, 2015 at 7:21:14 AM UTC-4, M.-A. Lemburg wrote:
> >> With Mandy Waite we have announced all keynotes for EuroPython 2015:
> >> 5 keynotes, 6 speakers, 4 women and 2 men.
> >
> > Your mentioning these numbers makes me wonder if the organizing committee is using gender preferences in its selection of keynote speakers. I hope not. It is better to choose the speakers who will give the most interesting talks and let the demographic chips fall where they may.
> >
> 
> I think that's more a matter of having the statistically-curious
> brain. In my father's family, there are 5 sons and 2 daughters - does
> that indicate gender preference in my reporting, or just an
> acknowledgement of a fact?

If 80% of Python programmers and potential speakers at a Python conference are male, the chance of 4 out 6 speakers being female is fairly low if gender is ignored. Some people think gender diversity in tech is so important that there should be gender preferences -- see for example this post by a Python blogger http://ilovesymposia.com/2015/04/03/calling-out-scipy-on-diversity/ . It is plausible that the organizers preferred female keynote speakers. Can the OP comment on this?